Ok..I promised a bit more feedback on how things wiient for me this last wiikend. (Ok, I promise I wont use that Wii thing in words after this point. :))

That image up there is me and Ding Pong…er…I mean my brother Matt playing a few games last night. RIGHT HERE you can see the entire updated Flickr group. You can also see them here at my brother-in-law Ken’s site. He actually took the shots, and has a really nice photo business happening over there.

At any rate, here are my impressions on the whole and individually:

The System: This is a place I feel that Nintendo came out of the gate pretty strong. Its clean, small, easy on the eyes, non-plastic looking, and overall, a big departure for Nintendo’s usual toy-like efforts. (Can anyone believe we used to think the N64 actually looked cool? Sheesh.)

Anyway, everything is right where it should be, and I am still amazed they got all the functionality in such a small place. The old gamecube ports are easy to get to, the old memory card slots are similarly easy to use, all the new stuff is simple and easy to navigate. On the whole I would give the console itself 4.5 gratuitous cow udders out of 5.

The Control This was one of the things I was unsure about from the beginning. A system where I waved around a remote looking thing to make things happen. Strange. But I can tell you after playing with it for a good solid chunk of time, the control is genius! Once you mess with it and get the hang of what you can expect, you seriously question how games played without them before. Everything about it screams possibilities. I really can’t wait to see the second wave of titles when dev’s get wind of what they can do…imagination is the limit here, folks! I’d give control 5 gratuitous cow udders out of 5.

How were the graphics? If you listen to ELR you will know why that question means something more than you might think it means. Anyway, the graphics.

Here’s the deal…if you buy a Wii because you want cutting edge, next gen, mind blowing graphics, you are buying the wrong console. Its Gamecube 1.5 best I can tell, though I hear that the new Mario and Metroid buck that impression pretty hard. But as for launch games, the new Zelda included, its nothing special. 360 and PS3 this is not.

I did not buy this machine for graphics, and neither should you. I did get it for the fun factor, and so should you.

I’d give the graphics 3 gratuitous cow udders out of 5.

I have not played long enough to give good game reviews yet, but I would say thus far that things are good. I really dig on Zelda so far, Monkey Ball is a ball, and RR is a laugh a second. The pack-in is totally what a pack-in should be. Great fun, free and a taste of what we can expect. On the whole I really don’t have anything bad to say about the system. It met my expectations, and I am pining to play right now! On the whole I would give it a 4.5 gratuitous cow udders out of 5.